“Fairly private” in or around Zion NP is going to be tough goal. Loved the park. I wish I had a week or two to really explore it. But the crowds were intense. Think Disneyland type crowds.
Well that is probably a deal breaker then. I can't stand crowds.
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We went about 5 years ago. It was probably may/June. Can't recall. But I don't recall the crowds being too bad as we did the parks mid week and did other exploring over the weekend. But the economy was a little shittier then too.
Any national tourist spot is going to be busy during breaks of holidays. If you can swing mid-week and not only over a weekend, it be better. And avoid July/August for the worst crowds and also the heat.
I can't recall the name, but we stayed in a cabin resort that also had ton of kid and fam activities. Want to say it was ponderosa or something like that. It may be a dive now, who knows. There were actually a couple fire road type trails right in that area. I still remember the smell of the mountains, fresh air, and pine.
ENVY was bone stock so it was perfect.
Yea it was a major turn off. Kinda normal time for it to get real busy. Beginning of summer with cool/coldish perfect hiking temps. It was May of 2016.
Had an all around bad experience in Zion. Icing on the cake. It has been the only National Park where the rangers wouldn’t give my kid a junior ranger badge. A maintenance worker heard my conversation with the two rangers and some how found me later in the day and handed my kid a badge so it all worked out. Now years later I still get fired up over that stupid badge and those rangers. Haha
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That blows! What a douche that they would sour a families trip over something like that.
